I have to admit that The Shack by Wm. Paul Young is one book that definitely brought out the gamut of emotions in me.

Briefly, it is the story of a man whose fragile faith in God is severely tested when his youngest daughter is kidnapped while on a family camping trip.

Several years later, the man receives a written invitation, evidently from God, inviting him back to the place of his darkest nightmare.

I was told by several friends that I should read this book – that everyone should read this book. I heard several people comment that it was a life altering experience for them.

When I first began reading the copy of The Shack that I had received from a friend for my birthday, I was apprehensive and skeptical. I just could not see how this book was going to have that much of an impact on me.

The first part of the book made me angry. How dare the author even suggest that a person who would hurt a child so terribly should ever be forgiven. Why would anyone even want to forgive such filth? At one point, I hurled the book across the room.

But, eventually I picked it up again and read some more.

As I started into the second half of the story, I was a little confused and not at all sure where this was heading.

I wasn’t prepared to be introduced to the off-the-wall versions of God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit that I met through Mr. Young’s words. At first I thought the whole thing a bit ridiculous.

But I kept reading.

I became intrigued, and then delighted, by what I was reading. I began to look at my accepted concepts and notions from a slightly different angle, and I saw glimmers of hope in places where such things didn’t seem possible. My mind opened up a bit more.

I don’t know that The Shack has been life altering for me, but the book did make me think a lot, and what better definition is there of a good book?